Non-contact type IC card and method of producing the same

ABSTRACT

In a non-contact type IC card having an electric part composed of a substrate and an IC chip attached to the substrate, the electric part is disposed outside a loop of an antenna coil. A reinforcing plate is provided on the substrate at the side of an attachment surface of the IC chip so as to surround an outer circumference edge of the IC chip. The non-contact type IC card is produced by filling a semisolid fixing resin into a resin hole formed of a resin film and a spacer having a hole wider than an outer area of the card and thicker than the electric part; embedding the electric part and the antenna coil in the fixing resin to temporarily fixing them; curing the fixing resin while a film is press-contacted with at least one surface of the fixing resin; and drilling a part of the fixing resin and the film at the same time.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a non-contact type IC card, andparticularly, to a structure of the non-contact type IC card and amethod of effectively producing the non-contact type IC card.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, a non-contact type IC card has been used as a coupon card fora lift in a ski slope, a coupon card and a pass card for trains orbuses, or a tag for managing stock, in which data can be identified andrenewed without taking out the card at any time to insert it into areading device at a place such as a ticket gate.

The basic structure of this kind of non-contact type IC card(hereinafter referred to as IC card) is shown in sectional views ofFIGS. 14(a) and 14(b). That is, as shown in FIG. 14(a), the IC card isformed such that a substrate 201 mounted with an electric part and anantenna coil 202 are disposed in a tray-shaped resin case 203c, and aresin cover body 203d or the like covers an upper portion of the case.Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 14(b), the IC card is formed such that aresin spacer 203e formed correspondingly to the largeness of the card isdisposed on a resin thin plate 203c, a substrate 201 mounted with anelectric part and an antenna coil 202 are inserted in the spacer, andthen a resin body 203d covers an upper portion.

Generally, the thus formed IC card does not include a built-in cell as apower source. The electric power required for the card 210 is obtainedsuch that when a person having the card passes near a ticket examiningdevice placed at a thicket gate in a place such as a ski slope, theantenna coil 202 receives an electric wave transmitted from transmittingmeans of the ticket examining device and the electric part on thesubstrate 201 detects the wave to charge a capacitor. Using thiselectric power, a semiconductor device such as a built-in microcomputeras the electric part is driven to rewrite data of fees or the like, andthe result is transmitted to the ticket examining device, so that theticket examining device identifies the state of use of the IC card, andonly a qualified person or a matter is passed or led to a predetermineddirection.

As described above, since data identification can be conducted in thenon-contact manner with mutual communication using the electric wave, itis not necessary to take out the card 210 to insert it into the ticketexamining device at any time when a person having the card passesthrough the ticket gate, a time for ticket examination can be shortened,and delay can be relaxed. Due to these advantages, from now on, the cardis becoming wide-spread in various fields, for example, inidentification of fees in a speedway.

The IC card, which is expected to become further popular, is oftenthrown away after use, so that it is necessary to mass-produce the cardin low cost. However, in the production method as shown in FIGS. 14(a)and 14(b), there are problems in the mass production, cost andperformance.

That is, in the conventional production method as shown in FIGS. 14(a)and 14(b), there are problems that it is difficult to position the coverbody 203d with respect to the case or the spacer so that theproductivity is inferior, and that the card is comparatively easilyremodeled by removing the cover body 203d. Further, there are problemsthat the card is apt to break down since when a user puts the card in apocket of his trousers, the electric part or connecting portion in thecard is damaged by bending of the cover body or the like due to thestress applied to the card 210, or the wiring is broken due to themovement of the antenna coil 202 by vibration.

FIGS. 15 to 18 show another example of a conventional non-contact typeIC card. FIG. 15 is a plan view showing a conventional non-contact typeIC card, and FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the conventional IC card.FIG. 17 is a front view showing the state in which a cover body isputting on a card body in a conventional non-contact type IC card.

In the drawings, reference numeral 121 denotes the non-contact type ICcard. In this non-contact type IC card 121, an IC chip 123 including acircuit necessary for achieving various objects, for example, amicroprocessor or memory, is bonded to an upper surface of a modulesubstrate 122, and the module substrate 122 is connected to an antennacoil 125 by a lead 124. Then, the module substrate 122 is mounted on anupper surface of a card substrate 121a. The loop-like antenna coil 125for communicating data to and from the outside by an electric wave isprinted substantially along an outer circumference of the upper surfaceof the card substrate 121a. The module substrate 122 is positionedinside the loop of the antenna coil 125 of the card substrate 121a, forexample, at about a center of the card substrate 121a. After the modulesubstrate 122 is connected to the antenna coil 125 by the lead 124, asshown in FIG. 17, a cover substrate 121b having a recess previouslyformed at a portion corresponding to the IC chip 123 and the modulesubstrate 122 are stuck on the card substrate 121a so that thenon-contact type IC card 121 is constructed.

However, when the non-contact type IC card 121 is carried (with aperson) while for example, it is contained in a pocket of trousers ofthe person, only if the person wearing the trousers changes his posture,a bending stress is applied to the non-contact type IC card 121. FIG. 18is a view explaining the state in which the conventional non-contacttype IC card is bent. Since the non-contact type IC card 121 is verythin, and the card substrate 121a and the cover substrate 121bconstituting the IC card 121 are often made of a soft material such asplastics, when some degree of bending stress is applied, the card may bebent as shown in FIG. 18. Particularly, since the center portion of theIC card is subjected to a concentrated bending stress and the IC moduleis positioned at the center portion of the IC card, the IC module is aptto be damaged.

Then, for example, as shown in FIGS. 19(a) and 19(b) or described inJapanese Patent Unexamined Publication Nos. Hei. 2-2096 or Hei.3-158296, it was proposed that after a highly rigid reinforcing plate126 is provided on a lower surface of the module substrate 122 of the ICmodule (see FIG. 19(a)) or on a surface facing the IC chip 123 (see FIG.19(b)), the cover substrate 121b is stuck on the card substrate 121a, sothat it is prevented for the plane shape of the card near the IC modulefrom being deformed by the concentrated bending stress applied to thecard substrate 121a or to the cover substrate 121b around the IC module.

However, according to this method of relaxing the bending stress by thereinforcing plate 126, there is disadvantage that since the thickness ofthe reinforcing plate 126 is added to the thickness of the IC module,the total thickness of the IC card becomes large and the card becomesunsuitable as the non-contact type IC card.

That is, for the former problem, countermeasures of increasing thethickness of the module substrate 122, merely adding the reinforcingplate 126 or the like inevitably increases the thickness of the ICmodule or the like, which is against the trend of thinning the IC cardand is not preferable.

Then, in order not to increase the total thickness of the IC module evenif a reinforcing plate is added, there is developed a mounting method ofIC chip by tape carrier package (hereinafter referred to as TCP) using athin film instead of the module substrate 122.

According to this TCP, at present, although the lead width of a leadconnecting an IC chip in an IC module to an external electrode is about50 μm and the pitch thereof is about 100 μm, recently, demand for makingthe IC card smaller and thinner is high and higher density mounting isstrongly desired. Thus, in order to make lead pattern finer and makemore pins, the lead width and lead pitch must be small.

As a result, as the lead width becomes small, the lead strength islowered, so that when a bending stress is applied to the IC module, theconnection portion between the lead and the IC chip becomes unstable,which may damage the entire of the IC card.

Accordingly, to cope with the problem of the prior art, the presentinvention is intended to provide an IC card applying an IC module whichis able to prevent damage of an IC chip or lead without increasing thethickness of the IC card, and particularly in a non-contact type IC cardrequired to make thin, an object of the present invention is to providea structure by which even if a bending stress is applied, the IC moduleis hardly damaged.

A further object of the present invention is to provide the structure ofan IC card by which a reliable IC card can be mass-produced in low cost,and to provide the method of producing the same.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in a non-contacttype IC card in which a loop antenna coil is mounted substantially alongthe outer circumference of a flat rectangular card body when the cardbody is viewed in a plane, and further an electric part is mounted onthe card body, the electric part is disposed outside the antenna coilwhen the card body is viewed in a plane.

In this manner, when the module substrate is disposed outside the loopof the antenna coil when viewed in a plane, even if a bending stress isapplied to the non-contact type IC card and the card body constitutingthe non-contact type IC card is bent, since the module substrate and theintegrated circuit chip are positioned at a portion except the centerportion of the card body which is apt to be subjected to the effect ofthe bending stress, the bending stress is hardly applied to the modulesubstrate and the integrated circuit chip, and there is little fear thatthe module substrate and the integrated circuit chip are broken.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in an IC card inwhich an IC module comprising a film substrate and an IC chip fixed tothe film substrate are embedded, a reinforcing plate is provided on thefilm substrate at the side of attachment of the IC chip and along anouter circumference edge of the IC chip, and a loop-like antenna coil isformed substantially along an outer circumference of the IC module.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since thereinforcing plate is provided on the film substrate at the side ofattachment of the IC chip and along the outer circumference edge of theIC chip, the reinforcing plate does not overlap with the IC chip in thethickness direction of the film substrate so that the increase of thethickness of the IC module due to the provision of the reinforcing platecan be diminished or vanished.

Further, since the reinforcing plate reinforces the film substratearound the IC chip, even if a mechanical stress, especially a bendingstress being apt to be concentrated to the center portion of the IC cardis applied from the outside, breakage or damage of the IC chip due tobending or warp of the film substrate in the IC module can bediminished. Further, since the connection portion between the lead andthe IC chip formed on the film substrate becomes stable, the reliabilityis improved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a non-contact typeIC card is characterized in that in the structure of the non-contacttype IC card containing a built-in electric part and antenna coil, atleast a part of the electric part and the antenna coil is embedded in aninsulating fixing resin, the fixing resin is cured while a resin film ispress-contacted with at least one surface of the fixing resin, and apart of the fixing resin and the film are drilled at the same time toform the IC card.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a method ofproducing a non-contact type IC card is characterized in that in themethod of producing the non-contact type IC card having a built-inelectric part and antenna coil in the card, after a semisolid fixingresin is filled into a resin hole formed of a resin film and a spacerhaving a hole wider than the outer area of the card and thicker than theheight of the electric part, the electric part and the antenna coil areembedded into the fixing resin and temporarily fixed, the fixing resinis cured in the state in which a film is press-contacted with at leastone surface of the fixing resin, and a part of the fixing resin and thefilm are concurrently drilled to form the IC card.

According to the structure of the third aspect of the invention, thesubstrate and the antenna coil can be easily and certainly fixed to apredetermined position. Further, according to the production method ofthe fourth aspect of the invention, positioning of the card body and thefilm is easily conducted and the IC card is continuously produced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a state in which a card body and a coverbody are about to be stuck on each other in a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a view taken along III--III of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a state in which a card body and a coverbody are about to be stuck on each other in a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a view taken along VI--VI of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a partial plan view showing portions around an opening of atape carrier on which an IC chip of an IC module of a third embodimentof the present invention is mounted.

FIGS. 8(a) and 8(b) are a sectional explanatory view and a schematicperspective view of the IC module of the third embodiment of the presentinvention, respectively.

FIG. 9 is a view explaining the mounting of the IC chip of the thirdembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a front view explaining the state in which a cover substrateis about to be stuck on a card substrate of the IC card of the thirdembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a sectional explanatory view showing an IC module of a fourthembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12(a) is a top view showing the structure of a non-contact type ICcard of the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12(b) is a side sectional view showing the structure of thenon-contact type IC card of fifth embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory view showing a production method of thenon-contact type IC card of the present invention.

FIGS. 14(a) and 14(b) are explanatory views showing the structure of aconventional non-contact type IC card, respectively.

FIG. 15 is a plan view showing another conventional non-contact type ICcard.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing the conventional non-contact typeIC card.

FIG. 17 is a front view showing the state in which a cover substrate isabout to be stuck on a card substrate in the conventional non-contacttype IC card.

FIG. 18 is a view explaining the state in which the conventionalnon-contact type IC card is bent.

FIGS. 19(a) and 19(b) are front views showing a conventional IC moduleand IC card provided with a reinforcing plate, respectively.

BEST MODE EMBODYING THE INVENTION

Preferred embodiments of the invention will be described below based onthe accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 3 show a first embodiment. In the drawings, reference numeral1 denotes a non-contact type IC card. In the non-contact type IC card 1,an electric part such as an integrated circuit chip 13 including abuilt-in circuit necessary for attaining various purposes such as amicroprocessor or a memory, is first mounted on an upper surface of amodule substrate 12. The electric part in the present inventionincludes, other than the integrated circuit chip or the like, amechanical part such as the module substrate as a supporting body forthe integrated circuit chip. Next, the module substrate 12 is mounted onan upper surface of a flat rectangular card body 11a made of plastics orthe like, and further a loop antenna coil 14 used for exchanging data tothe outside through an electric wave is printed substantially along theouter circumference of the upper surface of the card body 11a whenviewed in a plane. The module substrate 12 is disposed outside the loopof the antenna coil 14 of the card body 11a when viewed in a plane andat an end near a short side of a rectangle of the card body 11a. Afterthe module substrate 12 and the antenna coil 14 are connected to eachother, as shown in FIG. 1, a flat rectangular cover body 11b having amolded recess at a portion corresponding to a position of the integratedcircuit chip 13 and the module substrate 12 in advance, is stuck on thecard body 11a.

In this manner, when the module substrate 12 is disposed outside theloop of the antenna coil 14 when viewed in a plane, even if a bendingstress is applied to the non-contact type IC card and the card body 11aconstituting the non-contact type IC card 1 is bent as shown in FIG. 18,since the module substrate 12 and the. integrated circuit chip 13 arepositioned at a portion remote from the center portion of the card body11a which is apt to be subjected to the effect of the bending stress,the bending stress is hardly applied to the module substrate 12 and theintegrated circuit chip 13, and there is little fear that the modulesubstrate 12 and the integrated circuit chip 13 are damaged.

Also when the integrated circuit chip is directly mounted on the cardbody without the intervening module substrate, when the integratedcircuit chip is disposed outside the loop of the antenna coil of thecard body when viewed in a plane and at an end portion near the shortside of the card body, similar effects to the first embodiment can beobtained.

Further, as in a second embodiment as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, when a longside of a rectangle of the module substrate 22 is made parallel with ashort side of a rectangle of the card body 21a constituting thenon-contact type IC card 2, the long side of the rectangle of the modulesubstrate 22 is not parallel with the long side of the rectangle of thecard body 21a, in other words, there is no fear that the easily bentsides are parallel to each other. Thus, the card body 21a and the modulesubstrate 22 becomes hard to be bent. Accordingly, in addition to theeffects of the first embodiment, there is less fear that the modulesubstrate 22 and the integrated circuit chip 23 mounted thereon aredamaged.

Further, when the integrated circuit chip is directly mounted on thecard body without the intervening module substrate, or when the modulesubstrate is made of a film like soft material (that is, when both along side and a short side of a rectangle are much easily bent ascompared with the module substrate made of a hard material), if a longside of the rectangle of the integrated circuit chip is made parallelwith a short side of the rectangle of the card body, it is needless tosay that similar effects to the second embodiment can be obtained.

In the above embodiments, the non-contact type IC card composed of thecover body stuck on the card body mounting the integrated circuit chipor the like thereon has been described. However, also in othernon-contact type IC card, for example, in a non-contact type IC cardformed by placing a card body mounted with an integrated circuit chipthereon into a predetermined mold and integrally molding throughinjection of a resin, it goes without saying that similar effects to theabove embodiments can be obtained.

FIGS. 7 to 12 are views explaining an IC module of a third embodiment ofthe present invention and a method of producing an IC card by applyingthe IC module. FIG. 7 is a partial plan view showing a portion around anopening of a tape carrier on which one IC chip is mounted in the case ofproducing the IC module by an assembling method of the TCP.

First, there is formed the IC module in which an electric part such asan IC chip 101 having a built-in circuit necessary to achieve variouspurposes, for example, a microprocessor or a memory, is provided on alower surface side of a film substrate 104. In the present invention,the concept of the IC module comprises a mechanical part such as thefilm substrate as a support of the IC chip 101 in addition to the ICchip 101.

FIG. 8(a) is a view explaining the IC module corresponding to a crosssection taken along line A-B in FIG. 7, and FIG. 8(b) is a schematicperspective view showing the IC module reversing that shown in FIG.8(a).

The film substrate 104 is provided with an opening 104a on which the ICchip 101 is mounted. A tip inner lead 103a of a lead 103 provided on thefilm substrate 104 protrudes to the opening 104a, and the tip thereof isconnected to a bonding bump electrode 102 of the IC chip 101 by heatpress-contact. A reinforcing plate 106 having an opening 106a largerthan the opening 104a is stuck on a surface of the film substrate 104 atthe side of attachment of the IC chip 101 by an adhesive 105 along anouter circumference edge of the IC chip 1.

The thickness of the reinforcing plate 106 may arbitrarily determined aslong as the thickness of the IC module is not extremely increased by thethickness of the reinforcing plate much larger than that of the IC chipprotruding the surface of the film substrate 104. However, it ispreferable that the thickness of the reinforcing plate is comparablewith the IC chip protruding the surface of the film substrate 104 inview of the strength and making thin.

It is not necessary to stick the reinforcing plate 106 continuouslyalong the entire outer circumference edge of the opening 104a but thereinforcing plate may continue intermittently at parts of the outercircumference edge.

As shown in FIG. 8(a), a forming treatment is carried out so that thetip of the inner lead 103a is pressed down toward the depth direction ofthe film substrate 104 of the opening 104a, which prevents the shortcircuit between the inner lead 103a and the end of the IC chip 101 fromoccurring so as to improve the reliability. In this embodiment, althoughthe tip of the inner lead 103a is bent downward, the present inventionis not limited to this.

The IC module by such an assembling method of the TCP and the IC cardare produced as follows.

As shown in FIG. 7, the opening 104a is provided in the film substrate104 for the TCP, and a lead pattern as a wiring pattern is formed on thefilm substrate 104 by copper foils. The film substrate 104 is a flexiblefilm made of polyimide, glass epoxy, polyester or the like. A portion ofthe lead pattern protruding the opening 104a is the inner lead 103a anda portion thereof on the film substrate 104 is an outer lead 103b. Next,the bump electrode 102 for connection with the inner lead 103a is formedon an electrode terminal pad of the IC chip 101.

The IC chip 101 is positioned at the center of the opening 104a of thefilm substrate 104 having the above described structure from the frontside of the lead pattern formation surface or the reverse side of thelead pattern formation surface. Then, the tip of the inner lead 103a isthermally press-contacted with the bump electrode 102 by a bonding toolnot shown so that the IC chip 101 is mounted on the film substrate 104.

FIG. 9 is a view explaining the state in which the IC chip 103 isconnected to the inside of the opening 104a from the reverse side of thelead pattern formation surface. The opening 104a is made slightly largerthan the IC chip 101, and at the side of the attachment surface of theIC chip 101 of the IC module, the reinforcing plate having the opening106a larger than the opening 104a is stuck on the reverse surface of thefilm substrate 104 by the adhesive 105 so as to surround the opening104a.

The reinforcing plate 106 is made of a metal such as aluminum, aconductive material such as a high rigidity metal or alloy, a resin suchas polyimide or polyester epoxy, a plate material of a bake plate, glassepoxy, glass or the like, or other insulating materials. Among those,the conductive material is preferable since it also serves as a shieldagainst magnetic noise and electromagnetic wave noise to the circuit ofthe IC chip. A light material such as aluminum or a metal materialincluding aluminum is more preferable.

As shown in FIG. 8(a), after the IC chip 101 and the reinforcing plate106 are attached, a liquid or past-like resin is filled into theopenings 104a and 106a by potting and is cured to seal the connectingportion between the IC chip 101 and the inner lead 103a by the resin107, so that the IC module using the TCP is completed.

In order to quickly protect the connecting portion between the IC chipand the lead with the resin, the IC chip 101 may be sealed with theresin 107 before the reinforcing plate 106 is attached to the filmsubstrate 104. The resin 107 is made of, for example, a high qualityepoxy resin which is a resin generally used for sealing.

Next, as shown in FIG. 10, the IC module formed by the assembling methodof the TCP is mounted on a lower surface of a card substrate 108a madeof plastics or the like. A loop-like antenna coil, not shown, forcommunicating data to and from the outside by an electromagnetic wave isprinted on the card substrate 108a along substantially an outercircumference of the lower surface of the card substrate 108a whenviewed in a plane. After the lead pattern of the IC module is connectedto the antenna coil, a cover substrate 108b having a recess previouslyformed at a portion corresponding to the position of the IC module suchas the film substrate 104, the IC chip 101 and the reinforcing plate106, is stuck on the card substrate 108a so that the IC card is formed.

The reinforcing plate stuck on the film substrate of the IC moduleembedded in the IC card is not required to be one plate as long as it isflat. It is apparent that the similar effect can be expected even if thereinforcing plate is composed of a plurality of divided pieces.

However, when the reinforcing plate formed along the outer circumferenceedge of the IC chip and stuck on the film substrate is made of one flatplate, unevenness is not formed around the circumference of the IC chipwhen the IC module is stuck on the IC card substrate and the coversubstrate, and also the strength of the card can be increased. That is,there is an advantage that the damage of the IC chip due to the bendingstress applied to the IC card is more effectively prevented.

In the above embodiment, the IC card including the card substrate, thecover substrate stuck thereon, and the IC module contained in the cardsusbtrate and the cover substrate has been described. However, it isneedless to say that the similar effects can be obtained for other ICcard in which for example, an IC module mounted with an IC chip and thelike or a card substrate mounted with an IC module is put in apredetermined mold and a resin is injected therein to integrally formthe IC card.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view showing an IC module of a fourth embodimentof the present invention.

An IC chip 101 is mounted on a film substrate 104 without an opening,and a bonding bump electrode 102 of the IC chip 101 is thermallypress-contacted with a lead terminal of wiring pattern formed on thefilm substrate 104.

At the side of the same surface of the film substrate 104 as theattachment surface of the IC chip 101, a reinforcing plate 106 having anopening 106a so as to surround the outer circumference of the IC chip101 is stuck on the surface of the film substrate 104 by an adhesive105. Thus, like the first embodiment, the increase of the thickness ofthe entire IC module can be diminished or vanished.

Similarly to the third embodiment, after the IC chip and the reinforcingplate are attached, the potting resin 107 is filled into the opening106a to make seal.

Further, although the fourth embodiment adopts the mounting method ofthe IC chip by the TCP, mounting methods are not limited to this. Forexample, the IC chip may be mounted such that after the IC chip is puton the module substrate of the IC card, the IC chip is connected to thelead terminal provided on the module substrate by wire bonding.

The third and fourth embodiment of the present invention can provide athin and reliable IC card in which the increase of the thickness of theIC card can be diminished or vanished, and even when the IC card is bentor warped by a bending stress from the outside, the bending stress ishardly applied to the IC module or IC chip so that it is effectivelyprotected.

Particularly, in the non-contact type IC card required for making thin,there is obtained remarkable effects to prevent the IC module or the ICchip from being damaged.

In the following, the structure of a non-contact type IC card(hereinafter referred to as IC card) according to a fifth embodiment ofthe present invention and a production method will be described indetail with reference to FIGS. 12(a), 12(b) and 13. FIGS. 12(a) and12(b) are explanatory views showing the structure of the IC card of theinvention, in which FIG. 12(a) is a top view, and FIG. 12(b) is asectional view showing the cross section taken along line Z1-Z2 of FIG.12(a).

In the top view of FIG. 12(a) and the side sectional view of FIG. 12(b),a spacer 205 is made of a metal such as iron or copper having thethickness of 0.5 mm to 2.0 mm. The spacer includes a resin hole 205bwider than the outer area of the IC card and thicker than the height ofthe electric part, and band surfaces at both sides of the spacer includefeeding holes 205a for positioning and feeding the spacer 205 to thesubsequent step. Films 203a and 203b at upper and lower sides are formedof polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or the like having the thickness ofabout 0.1 mm, and feeding holes corresponding to the feeding holes 205aof the spacer 205 are provided. An electric part such as a microcomputeror a capacitor for detecting the received electric wave to obtainelectric power and data and for transmitting data, is mounted on asubstrate 201, and an antenna coil 202 of copper wires wound in the coilshape for receiving and transmitting the electric wave is connected.

A semisolid fixing resin 204 such as plastic resin is filled into arecess portion formed of the film 203a provided with a predeterminedindication and the resin hole 205b, and the substrate 201 and theantenna coil 202 are embedded therein. The upper portion of the spacer205 in this state is covered with the film 203b and is heated to curethe resin 204. Then, a cutting portion 210a indicated by a dotted lineis drilled by a drilling device mentioned after to form the IC card.

In FIGS. 12(a) and 12(b), although the substrate 201 positions insidethe antenna coil 202, it may be positioned outside the antenna coil 202,and the position and size of the substrate is not restricted.

The spacer 205 may be made of an alloy such as stainless steel otherthan a metal such as iron or copper, and may be a resin if reusedescribed later is not considered. The fixing resin 204 may be made of,other than the plastic resin, a thermoplastic polyester resin such aspolybutylene terephthalate (PBT) or a thermosetting resin such as epoxyresin or phenol resin as long as the resin is insulating one. The filmmay be any resin other than the above-mentioned PET as long as itresists the temperature of about 150° C. and can be provided with anindication on the surface. A predetermined indication is provided on atleast one of the upper and lower films.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory view showing an example of a production methodof the IC cards of the present invention. The production method will bedescribed based on FIG. 13. The spacer 205 wound in a roll and the lowerfilm 203a are extracted by a feeding roller 206 having protrusionsfitted into the feeding holes 205a, and are press-contacted to eachother to form the recess portion for storing the fixing resin 204. Thesemisolid fixing resin 204 is filled into the thus formed recessportion, the substrate 201 and the antenna coil 202 are disposed at apredetermined position on a support 207, and then while being coveredwith the upper film 203b wound in a roll, press-contact is conducted bya press-contact roller 206a so that the substrate 201 and the antennacoil 202 are embedded in the fixing resin 204. The thus continuouslyformed IC cards are heated by heaters 208a and 208b up to thetemperature of 100°-150° C. to cure the fixing resin 204, and are stuckintegrally on the films 203a and 203b. Finally, the upper and lowerportions of the continuously formed IC cards are pinched by a pinchingdevice 209a and are drilled by the drilling device 209b to form therespective IC cards 210.

In this embodiment, the lower and upper films 203a and 203b are used.However, by certainly pushing the substrate 201 and the antenna coil 202by a thin bar or the like, the fixing resin 204 may be cured withoutusing the upper film 203b. At this time, a photosetting resin such asurethan acrylate as the fixing resin 204 may be used, which is cured byan ultraviolet ray lamp or the like instead of the heaters 208a and208b. In this case, the film is made of a resin resistant to ultravioletrays than heat, and after the fixing resin 204 is cured, the upper film203b is stuck and integral drilling is conducted.

When this production method is used, the electric part 201 and theantenna coil 202 are certainly fixed to the fixing resin 204, so thatthe card is strong against the stress and the wire is not broken byvibration or the like. Thus, the reliability is improved. Further,positioning of the IC card and the film is easily and certainlyconducted. Further, since the IC card and the film are integrally cut atthe cutting portion 210a, it is not necessary to mind that the fixingresin or adhesive between the IC card and the film leaks out at the endof the IC card. The spacer 205 after the IC card is drilled, can bereused if it is wound while the resin 204 is removed, so that the effectof further reducing the cost can be expected.

As described above, according to the structure of the fifth embodiment,the substrate and the antenna coil can be easily and certainly fixed toa predetermined position, so that the reliability of the IC card can beincreased, and the production steps of the IC card can be simplified toprovide the IC card in lower cost.

Further, according to the production method of the invention,positioning of the card body and the film is easily conducted, and theIC card can be continuously produced, so that the IC cards can bemass-produced and the cost can be reduced.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-contact type IC card comprising:a flatrectangle card body; a loop antenna coil mounted on said flat rectanglecard body substantially along an outer circumference of said card body;and an electric part mounted on said card body; wherein said electricpart is disposed outside the loop of said antenna coil when said cardbody is viewed in a plane.
 2. The non-contact type IC card as claimed inclaim 1, wherein a long side of a rectangle of said electric part ismade parallel with a short side of a rectangle of said card body.
 3. Thenon-contact type IC card as claimed in claim 1, wherein said electricpart comprises a film substrate, an IC chip attached to said filmsubstrate, and a reinforcing plate provided on said film substrate alongan outer circumference edge of said IC chip at a side of an attachmentsurface to which said IC chip is attached.
 4. The non-contact type ICcard as claimed in claim 3, wherein said reinforcing plate is one flatplate formed along the outer circumference edge of said IC chip.
 5. Thenon-contact type IC card as claimed in claim 3, wherein said reinforcingplate is made of a metal.
 6. The non-contact type IC card as claimed inclaim 1, wherein at least a part of said electric part and said antennacoil is embedded in an insulating fixing resin, and said fixing resin iscured while a resin film is press-contacted with at least one surface ofsaid fixing resin.
 7. A method of producing a non-contact type IC cardhaving a built-in electric part and an antenna coil in said card, themethod comprising the steps of:filling a semisolid fixing resin into aresin hole formed of a resin film and a spacer having a hole wider thanan outer area of said card and thicker than said electric part;embedding said electric part and said antenna coil in said fixing resinto temporarily fixing said electric part and said antenna coil; curingsaid fixing resin while a film is press-contacted with at least onesurface of said fixing resin; and drilling a part of said fixing resinand said film at the same time to form said non-contact type IC card. 8.The method of producing a non-contact type IC card as claimed in claim7, wherein said spacer at both sides of said part of said fixing resinand said film drilled at the same time includes feeding holes forpositioning and feeding said spacer to a subsequent step, andprotrusions of a feeding roller are fitted into said feeding holes sothat automatic positioning is conducted.